I'm curious... what is your favorite live action adaptation of the story of Jesus? The King Of Kings? The Greatest Story Ever Told? Jesus Of Nazareth? The Passion Of The Christ? Or something more obscure? I'm not necessarily asking which is most faithful or accurate with the source material... but which one you find more entertaining? Personally, I disliked Passion... mostly because I thought the Jesus Of Nazareth miniseries was more interesting and complete.
Little known, hard-to-find...and I don't remember a lot of details but remember liking it a lot when I saw it. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080595/ I really don't like most of the big name films. I like the Passion as a work of art but not so much as great storytelling.
Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Christ-Vampire-Hunter-Special/dp/B00007CVRX http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311361/ A quick synopsis: Jesus, and his Luchador sidekick Santo, battle lesbian vampires.
Sometimes Dune, and sometimes SW 'A New Hope', depends on my mood (heavy, or light). Though both apply a fair amount of artistic license.
Jesus Christ Superstar was entertaining, great soundtrack too. The Passion of the Christ was much better than I thought it would be and no where near as gory. The Last Temptation of Christ was rather dull. It's been a while but I remember The Greatest Story Ever Told as being decent.
cool. I'll have to take a look at some of these. the vampire hunter one might be hard to find though!
Paul Atreides is more of a composite between mohomod, Colonel Lawrence, Guy lead uprising in sudan against british and naser.
Yep, the Mel Gibson version. As for the mixed reviews, well first off the biggest criticism at the time was that it portrayed Jews in a bad light. Then came the obvious rebuke of using Aramaic as the film's primary language, there haven't exactly been a slew of Aramaic box office winners. Finally the violence. Many felt it was too much, that there was no need to see chunks of flesh torn away to tell the story, that the movie was little more than a Jesus snuff film. That's the mindset I had going in but it turned out not to be the case at all. Antisemitism is tough sell considering Jesus was a Jew Aramaic dialogue worked fine because most everybody already knew the story. Tell the tale of the Titanic sinking with every main character speaking Mandarin Chinese and we'd all be able to follow along The violence was essentially on par with today's prime time television, think of it as CSI:Golgotha That said, it was a surprisingly interesting take on the story and a well crafted film.
Let's see, of the ones I know: 1. Jesus of Nazareth - a pale, blue-eyed, kinda-spooky Jesus? Yeah, it works. I like James Farentino as an old-school smashmouth Peter. And was there ever a Mary prettier or more angelic than Olivia Hussey? (6.5/10) 2. The Greatest Story Ever Told - Sorry, I just can't buy Max von Sydow in the lead role...he just isn't right. But Chuck Heston kicks some righteous ass as John the Baptist. (4.5/10) 3. The Last Temptation of Christ - offbeat take on the story: Jesus (Willem Defoe!!!) is a tormented, unwilling messiah and Judas (Harvey Keitel) is the best friend forced to betray him. Jesus is tempted by the devil (in the form of a girl angel), comes down from the cross, lives a mortal life, and, on his deathbed, is visited by the apostles, who curse him. He begs God to put him back on the cross and his wish is granted. Shoulda been called 'It's a Wonderful Christ.' And check out Harry Dean Stanton as Paul!!! (8/10) 4. King of Kings - Jeffrey Hunter(!!!) as a young, serious Jesus. An interesting take from Barrabas' side of the story but the trial scene with Pilate is just wrong, wrong, wrong. (5.5/10) 5. The Passion of the Christ - most appealing and "normal" Jesus ever (how can you not be charmed by the scene where he shows Mary the table he's making?). Comes across as very authentic because of attention to detail, language, etc., and Cavizel is the most Semitic-looking Jesus yet. But more than enough suffering to go around... (8.5/10)